Independence Day
by forensicsfan
Summary: Booth wants to get Bones out of the lab on Independence Day under the guise of a little cultural anthropology.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I certainly don't profit from them, however, they do produce smiles and sometimes even snorts of laughter when I watch them.

**Author's Note:** This is my first foray into writing a _**Bones**_ fiction and my first deviation away from writing _**CSI**_. I hope you enjoy.

* * *

"And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there," Agent Seeley Booth unconsciously crooned the Star Spangled Banner as he tapped a rhythm against the steering wheel and waited for the light to turn green on Constitution Avenue. "Oh, say does that star spangled banner yet wave, o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave...play ball." 

"Play ball?" Dr. Temperance Brennan had been more than slightly amused at how her partner seemed to wear his patriotism on his sleeve, but even she was familiar enough with the lyrics of the National Anthem to know that the words 'play ball' were not part of them. "What in the world does playing with a ball have to do with the flag?"

Booth let out a soft chuckle, he hadn't really realized that he'd been singing out loud, he glanced over at his partner and smirked, "Baseball, Bones. Someone sings the national anthem and then some guy yells 'play ball' and they throw out the first pitch...I guess I just got a little carried away thinking about baseball, fireworks, apple pie, hotdogs, and the Fourth of July."

"You mean Independence Day; the fourth of July is a day on the calendar, which so happens to coincide with the day our founding fathers signed our Declaration of Independence. It seems most people assume that the holiday itself is called the fourth of July, when in fact it isn't so." In the back of Brennan's mind she wondered why there was such confusion in the first place; what ever happened to being precise?

"I always knew you were a patriot at heart." Booth couldn't stop the grin that had begun to spread across his face. Bones was so serious most of the time that it warmed his patriotic little heart to hear her talking about the greatest country on the face of the earth in such historically accurate terms.

"I never said I wasn't patriotic, Booth, I just don't vocalize it quite as vehemently as you do." She rolled her eyes to suppress her smirk. She had never met someone who loved his country quite as much as Seeley Booth and she found it both anthropologically intriguing and somewhat endearing all at the same time.

"So what are you doing for the fourth?" As he caught her eyebrow begin a curve upwards, he cleared his throat to keep from laughing as he corrected himself before she had the chance, "Independence Day; what are you doing to celebrate Independence Day?"

She glanced out the window and noticed that they'd only gone a few blocks, inching along in rush hour traffic near the Capitol building it was going to take them longer to drive back to the Jeffersonian than it would have taken to walk if they just pulled over and parked, "I'll probably be working; I have a backlog of remains to identify." Not the answer he probably wanted to hear, but it was certainly the truth.

"Work? On July 4th? It's our nation's birthday, Bones, you can't sit in your lab and miss out on all the fun." Booth could tell that unless he could find a compelling reason to get her out of the lab that she'd probably miss all of the barbecues and fireworks. What was July 4th if you couldn't eat potato salad and watermelon and watch some kids run a three legged race?

"I'm not particularly fond of mixing alcohol with explosives; it doesn't exactly bring out the greatest discernment in people this time of year." She had heard of far too many instances of otherwise intelligent people having their decision making skills altered by consuming too much alcohol all in the name of celebrating the nation's independence and blowing off one of their appendages or even worse, killing themselves or someone else in the process.

"There's more to Independence Day than fireworks, Bones." Booth smiled at her, an idea already forming in the back of his mind, "But the fireworks on the mall are pretty spectacular." Maybe he could convince her to leave the lab at least for the fireworks.

"So I've heard; I've heard them from the Jeffersonian." She found holidays that seemed to be centered around family created such a loneliness that she preferred to immerse herself in work as a sort of balm to the wounds of being abandoned by her own family. She had determined that it was a perfectly logical response and it had become a sort of habit that she looked forward to.

"You can't work on a holiday, Bones, not _that_ holiday anyway." Booth was determined that if was up to him that there was no way she was going to spend the country's biggest and most important holiday examining bones.

"How is it really different than any other holiday? I don't have plans so I thought I would work. It's a logical conclusion especially when you consider how many remains there are to identify. Don't you think those families would want some closure especially on Independence Day?" Brennan knew that Booth was aware that many of the remains yet to be identified were casualties of both World Wars, Vietnam, Korea, and most recently the conflicts in the Middle East.

"Ok, you said you've heard the fireworks on the mall; are you saying that you've never actually seen them?" It had take a few moments for her words to filter in and register what they implied by what she hadn't said. He chose to momentarily ignore her argument about closure.

"No, I'm sure they're beautiful, but I've always had pressing cases to work on," she could see the determination on Booth's face, "and don't look at me like that. Independence Day has become as commercialized as every other holiday and I think I would rather find meaning in helping identify the remains of someone who gave their life in service to our country than to head out to Bob's BBQ World for some super sale." She was so impassioned with her delivery that for a moment she failed to realize exactly how she sounded.

"You've been watching TV." Booth was rather pleased by the fact that Bones would even know that Bob's BBQ World existed or that he was indeed having a super sale on the 4th.

Her furrowed brow indicated that she wasn't quite sure how he'd come to that conclusion, even if it was true, "So what if I've been watching television? What does that have to do with Independence Day?"

Booth let out another chuckle, "It means that you've been exploring things outside the lab. It means that you're going to spend Independence Day with me."

"Booth, I'm not sure how you've come to that conclusion; it isn't even logical." Brennan's protest wasn't as strong as she'd hoped.

"Think of it as an anthropological investigation of sorts," Booth was pretty pleased with himself for coming up with this argument. "Angela and Hodgins are having a party, on the Fourth of July to celebrate Independence Day and as a part of our American culture, you should participate. The same goes for the fireworks on the mall later on." He tried to keep the wattage on his smile down so that she wouldn't suspect that maybe his motives for spending the holiday with her went further than just some friendly patriotism.

She wasn't sure how he'd done it, but he had a compelling argument, "I'm a forensic anthropologist, not a cultural anthropologist...but in the interest of science I accept." She couldn't help smiling in spite of herself.

"You're going to have a good time and don't even try to deny it." Booth grinned at her and finally was able to turn off of Constitution Avenue and away from some of the thicker traffic as they neared the Jeffersonian.

_**To Be Continued...**_


	2. Chapter 2

"I thought you were going to pass out when Hodgins brought out the welding torch to roast the corn on the cob," Brennan was smiling and on the verge of an amused laugh at Booth's expense as they drove back into DC to try and find a spot to watch the fireworks on the mall.

"For the record, Bones, I was not going to pass out," He gestured emphatically as he drove, he was a man and not just any man, he was an FBI Special Agent and FBI Special Agents did not pass out in the face of a welding torch; especially FBI Special Agents who were former Army Ranger Sharpshooters. "I might have been slightly startled, but I was not going to pass out."

"Startled." Bones considered that one for a moment; he might deny it, but she was sure that from the momentary look of terror on his face when he turned around to see Hodgins smiling a bit too maniacally with the welding torch in hand that it was just about enough to make even Seeley Booth pass out. He'd quickly recovered of course when he realized that Hodgins had simply wanted to share in his own conspiratorial way a rather innovative method for roasting ears of corn.

"And you would have been startled too if you'd seen the look on his face." Booth's voice sounded all puffed up as he continued to explain away how the color had literally drained from his face. "But the corn was remarkably good I do have to say...all caramelly."

Bones snickered and pursed her lips together to keep from outright laughing at him; he claimed that the squints as he referred to her and her colleagues were socially awkward, but despite his knowledge of psychology and pop culture, he was awkward in his own way, "Caramelization is a result of sugars breaking down when heat is applied; perhaps that's what Hodgins did, the corn did have an extra sweet flavor to it."

"You don't let him play with that thing in the lab do you; between him and Zach they could burn the place down." Booth looked genuinely worried; some of the pranks and experiments the two of them had put together had become legendary in the lab and not in the good sense either.

"They're grown men, Booth; a little rational interjection at key moments usually works." Although it didn't work all the time and to an empiricist such as herself that thought was a bit unsettling. Perhaps that was part of the reason at least that she preferred to work with bones rather than live people; they didn't change their characteristics on a whim.

"I would hardly refer to either Hodgins or Zach as grown men, Bones; thirteen-year olds in grown men's bodies maybe, but most grown men don't even think about half of what those two come up with. They're like Dr. Jeckel and Mr Hyde."

Bones arched her brow rather skeptically, "They're no different than you; you like to play guns and badges." Really, how could he not see that most men would stay little boys if they could get away with it?

"Cops and robbers, Bones, and I'm the good guy, ok? And it's not a game, I'm sure you're familiar with the fact that we use real bullets." Booth wasn't sure how they had gotten from corn on the cob to this. He furrowed his brow as he considered just how many other people were planning on watching fireworks on the mall and he realized that there wasn't a parking spot anywhere as far as he could see. "Doesn't anyone use the Metro anymore?"

"I guess a lot of people had the same idea." Bones observed that the streets surrounding the mall were as crowded as they were at rush hour; perhaps watching fireworks here wasn't the best idea after all, even if it would have made for an interesting scientific observation.

"Well this is just great; by the time we find a parking spot the fireworks will be over." Booth was so focused on finding a spot large enough for his FBI issued vehicle that it seemed to escape him that he was after all an FBI agent and that the headquarters of the FBI were just a few blocks away from the mall; or the fact that the Jeffersonian wasn't all that far away either and there was a reserved parking spot with Dr. Brennan's name on it.

Bones chuckled, "We could just head over to the Jeffersonian, Booth." It seemed perfectly logical and rational that as long as they planned on watching fireworks on the mall that they might as well stop at the Jeffersonian.

"Hey, it's Independence Day, Bones, the whole point of today was to get you out of the lab and experience a bit of real American culture; get in touch with your cultural anthropologist side so to speak. I'm not taking you to work." Booth couldn't believe that she'd suggested the lab; well actually, he wasn't really all that surprised, sometimes he wondered how often she even went home and if she was willing to throw the towel in at watching some fireworks because there wasn't any parking then maybe he ought to use a little FBI muscle and create a parking spot.

"I wasn't suggesting that I wanted to work; although there is a significant backlog; I was merely thinking that we could park there and watch the fireworks from the roof." This would be far better than trying to mill through a huge crush of people that had probably been staking out locations since the sun had first begun to poke over the horizon the way Angela had talked about it. Besides, Angela had seen to it that they had leftover apple pie to share and it would be far easier to enjoy it if they didn't have to worry about someone stepping in it in the dark.

"Great idea, Bones." A grin stole over Booth's face; yes, this was definitely turning out to be one of the best 4th of Julys he'd had in a very long time. Bones and him alone on the roof watching fireworks; of course this could backfire too; he might make a fool out of himself and do something stupid like try and kiss her accidentally and then there'd be a fireworks display that would make the ones on the mall pale by comparison. Of course he wasn't an idiot either, he could tell that Bone found him attractive, they had some sparks of chemistry, but neither one of them had ever been willing to cross that line in the interest of preserving their friendship and their partnership. Maybe it was a good thing. Or not.

"It's simply logical, the Jeffersonian is on the mall, how much better can the parking get?" Of course the thought did occur to her that she might be setting herself up for something she'd been trying to avoid. It wasn't like she didn't spend time alone with Booth on a regular basis, but it was usually when they were working on a case or discussing a case over a meal; today was feeling a bit more date-like and while the idea of her and Booth had crossed her mind several dozen times or more since they'd started working together, they'd never crossed that line. Of course the fact that neither one of them was seeing anyone at the moment brought the possibility of 'what if?' to the forefront of her mind and if she were to follow it to its logical conclusion, they might just create some fireworks of their own. Or not.

_**To Be Continued...**_


	3. Chapter 3

"I should have known that you weren't the only squint that liked to work on holidays." Booth observed that there were nearly as many cars in the underground parking area as there might be on a regular work day; perhaps his plan of seeing the fireworks with Bones all alone wasn't going to happen after all.

"In the past we've had parties; some people even watch the fireworks from the roof. That's why I thought it would be a good place for us to go." Brennan recalled one particular Independence Day when Zach and Hodgins had spike some drinks with 100 proof alcohol; so it was probably a good thing that Angela and Hodgins had thrown their own barbecue. Zach was unlikely to try something like that on his own because Hodgins was usually the instigator of the pair even if Zach might have come up with the idea in the first place.

"So then why did Angela and Hodgins host a party?" Booth considered that the pair practically lived at the Jeffersonian like Bones did and it made sense that since most of the people that had been at the barbecue were from the lab, that they could have just had the party there.

Brennan raised a single eyebrow and answered matter of factly as Booth pulled the vehicle into her parking spot, "Because Angela told me that she wanted to create some of their own fireworks later."

Booth choked on a cough, "Ok, that was way too much information." He knew that Hodgins and Angela were seeing each other, but that didn't mean that he wanted to know exactly what they did in their spare time alone.

Brennan laughed, "What? Surely you're not surprised that Angela and Hodgins have a healthy sexual appetite for each other. It's perfectly normal for two people in a committed relationship to engage in..."

"No need to give a dissertation on sex, Bones, I'm familiar with the topic." Booth cut her off mid-sentence; he wasn't sure how she did it. She could be the most infuriatingly obliviously frustrating woman and at exactly the same time he wanted to pin her up against the closest wall and kiss her senseless.

"Then you clearly understand the biological urges," Brennan found it curious that a man of Booth's experience could seem so embarrassed by a frank discussion of something that was perfectly normal.

Booth looked at her incredulously, "Yes, I do. Now can we drop the subject?" The last person he wanted to talk about sex with was Bones; he was finding it difficult enough to focus his mind away from the fact that he wanted to kiss her without throwing images into his mind of having sex as well; sex with her.

"You seem uncomfortable." Brennan noticed that Booth was slightly agitated as they exited the vehicle and headed towards the elevator entrance to the Jeffersonian; apple pie in hand.

"Just don't feel like talking about other people's sex lives, Bones?" Booth just shook his head. "It's Independence Day, why can't we talk about the flag, or hot dogs, or fireworks." He sounded slightly exasperated.

"I thought that's how this whole conversation started; we were talking about fireworks." Brennan had a mischievous smirk on her face. It wasn't often that she embarrassed Booth, but when she managed she received a wonderful feeling of satisfaction; it wasn't logical or even rational, but she enjoyed it.

"I'd rather talk about pie right now," Booth eyed the apple pie that Bones held in her hand; Angela had been nice enough to send them off with it, but now that he knew they would probably find a lab full of people, he hoped that they wouldn't have to share. He didn't want to share the pie and he most certainly didn't want to share Bones. And right now he was praying to God that Cam wasn't around tonight; he was sure that she still had a thing for him and he did not need her getting in the way of him spending a lovely 4th of July trying to figure out if he was going to try and kiss Bones.

Brennan laughed and leaned into him a little as she elbowed him, "Talk about it or eat it?" The way Booth had devoured the other food at the barbecue she wondered how in the world he had enough room left in his stomach for more. Although, given his well developed musculature his body probably burned off calories in a rather efficient manner and so it was probably perfectly natural that he should be hungry again.

Booth pursed his lips together a bit as they walked into the lab and headed towards Brennan's office, "You don't have any whipped cream to go on that do you?" As many cars as had been parked in the lot below the building, there really didn't seem to be too many people inside the Jeffersonian itself outside of the security guards. Maybe people had just taken advantage of the parking and were out milling around on the mall.

"And forks." Brennan smiled as she held up a bag that Angela had sent with the pie; she'd sent along some advice to take advantage of Booth if the situation had presented itself as well. It was definitely something that she'd considered, but she wasn't about to let Angela know that; she might be her best friend, but sometimes she just didn't understand what was at stake if she and Booth did cross the imaginary line that they'd unconsciously drawn between them.

Neither one of them heard footsteps approaching until the sound of Cam's voice broke into Brennan's office, "Somehow I expected I'd see you in here today, Dr. Brennan." It took her a moment longer to realize that Booth was there too and he was definitely not dressed for work; the well fitting t-shirt and khaki shorts were a dead giveaway that he and Dr. Brennan had been spending the day together. A flash of jealously surfaced for just a moment and then a smile spread across her face as she remembered that she wasn't here for work either and she wasn't alone.

"Cam, you working today?" Booth hoped he sounded casual; no reason to let her smell fear that she was going to ruin his plans.

Cam smirked at both Booth and Brennan, "No, I'm not working. Carlos and I thought the Jeffersonian would be a great vantage point to see the fireworks." The fact that she'd never mentioned anyone named Carlos registered in her mind a fraction of a second before the information caused a reaction in the faces of her colleagues.

"Carlos?" Brennan was extremely curious at this possible bit of good news. Could it be that Cam was actually seeing someone and was not longer interested in Booth; she wasn't sure why that should make her feel so relieved, but it did.

Booth echoed the question with a raised eyebrow, "Do we know this Carlos?" Not that he was interested in Cam romantically any longer, but he was still a bit protective of the women he knew and he was more than ready to do a background check if necessary.

Cam felt a slight burning in her cheeks, but being one to always try and maintain a sense of control, she smiled and sounded confident as she spoke, "Carlos Garcia the baseball player."

"Is he famous?" Brennan looked slightly confused; she didn't even know the fundamentals of baseball let alone who the players for particular teams were.

Booth was about to launch into an explanation of his career highlights, but then realized that it might just be lost on her, "Yeah, you could say that." Sometimes her lack of knowledge about pop culture frustrated him, but tonight he seemed to just find it endearing.

"So are you working?" Cam smirked; she really didn't understand Dr. Brennan or what Booth apparently saw in her, but she definitely couldn't deny that there was an attraction between them that even a blind man could see; she wondered why they couldn't.

Brennan shook her head, "No, Booth and I are going to watch the fireworks from the roof." A faint smile pulled at the edges of her mouth; it gave her a certain amount of pleasure to inform Cam that _she_ was with Booth tonight and then she began to wonder when she had gotten so territorial over Booth in the first place.

_**To Be Continued...**_


	4. Chapter 4

"Did Angela make this pie?" Booth looked over at Bones quizzically as they shared the apple pie from the pie plate; neither one of them had thought to find plates to put slices of it on, but Booth was beginning to think he was alright with that; it allowed him to sit quite a bit closer to Bones than he might have otherwise and she didn't seem to mind at all.

"Probably not, Angela isn't what you'd refer to as very domestic," Brennan was quite sure that her friend wasn't capable of creating a pie this good; she _was_ an artist, but not a culinary artist. "I actually think that Hodgins made it."

"Hodgins? Really?" That surprised Booth; he would never have thought of Jack Hodgins, conspiracy theorist and super squint could bake a pie that reminded him of his grandmother's apple pies. "The crust is so flakey."

"He's full of surprises, or so Angela tells me." Brennan wasn't going to go into details about all of the other talents that Angela claimed Hodgins had; Booth had made it clear earlier that there were just certain things he didn't want to know. She was doing her best to try and ignore the butterflies that had taken up residence in her stomach; something that had been happening with increased frequency when she was around Booth.

"Well, let's just leave _that_ can of worms closed, ok?" Booth did _not_ want to learn anything more about the extracurricular activities of Angela Montenegro and Jack Hodgins. Right at this moment he was far more interested in his own extracurricular activities, especially if they happened to involve one Dr. Temperance Brennan who was sitting next to him and devouring far more pie than he ever considered she might be capable of consuming in one sitting.

"I'm not sure I understand how a can of worms is supposed to relate to Angela." Brennan looked out across the mall sure that she had never seen this many people there at any one time before in the entire time she'd live in DC and thankful that she and Booth had opted to come to the Jeffersonian instead of trying to find a place among the enormous crowd. They had managed to find a spot on the roof that had a good view of the Washington Monument, which Booth had said would be the focal point of the fireworks.

"It's a figure of speech, Bones...it means that it's just something you don't want to talk about." Booth noticed that they'd almost finished off the entire pie and he let out a soft chuckle, "I guess that pie was better than either one of us wanted to admit."

Brennan smiled back at him and let out a laugh of her own as she noticed that Booth had a blob of the apple filling and some whipped cream at the edge of his mouth, "We should have brought napkins."

"What?" He looked at the expression on her face and concluded that either she was trying to give him a complex or he'd missed his mouth somewhere in the middle of the pie, "I have something on my face?" Booth worked his tongue around his mouth to try and find the offending blob and when Bones giggled and shook her head, pointing towards his mouth, he wiped at it with his fingers, still coming up empty. He quirked an eyebrow in her direction, "There isn't anything on my face is there?"

"_Yes_, there is," She smirked as she watched him repeat the whole process, still missing the gooey blob.

Booth pointed at his face, leaning in towards Bones probably far closer than he ought to if he wanted to see the dawn's early light, "Did I get it?" He could tell from her expression that he'd probably missed again.

"No, it's still there," She restrained herself from reaching up and wiping it off of his face by pointing at her own face, "just at the corner of your mouth." She realized just how close their faces were as she glanced up and her eyes locked with his for a very long moment. The flurry of butterflies in her stomach surged in a whirlwind of nerves and she felt her cheeks flushing warmly as she considered how much easier it would be if she just nibbled it off of his face.

Booth licked the wrong corner of his mouth; he had thought he was being pretty damn thorough but given the amused expression on Bone's face, he was fairly certain that he was failing miserably. He arched both brows and looked at her expectantly, "Can you...I mean, I'm obviously not getting it and you have a birds-eye view."

She smirked. "A birds-eye view would imply that I was above you, but as you can see that's just not the case," Brennan's fingers trembled slightly as she reached over and cupped his cheek and brushed at the glob with her thumb.

Booth felt a little buzz of electricity at the innocent touch against his face and as her thumb brushed over his lips he unconsciously flicked out his tongue against it.

Brennan's eyes snapped to his as she felt him lick the blob off of her thumb; she wanted to kiss him, but she didn't want to jump to conclusions that he was willing to step across that invisible line. She felt her heart catch in her throat as she realized he was looking at her with a hunger in his eyes and she wondered if he could see straight into her soul. She glanced away at the weight of the emotion she felt just then, "I got it." She let out a nervous laugh and pulled her hand away from his face.

Booth simply reacted; he didn't want to dance around the issue any longer, this was his Bones and he wanted her to know that he wanted to be with her. His hand enveloped hers and his voice was soft, enticing her to glance up and meet his eyes, "Temperance." He didn't say her name often, but somehow at this juncture it seemed appropriate.

"Booth," She desperately wanted to protest, but she just didn't have the will to do it anymore. She was entranced with Seeley Booth; it made absolutely no logical sense to her but it was true. Somehow in the middle of examining remains and solving crimes he had found a place deep in her heart that she hadn't realized was still accessible.

"Shhh, don't say anything, ok, Bones." His voice was almost a whisper and Booth knew that if she thought about this too much she would find some reason to rationalize the little jolts of electricity that seemed to be sparking between them.

"Ok," Brennan found herself feeling an exquisite kind of anxiety at what was happening here. As he leaned in closer, she blinked, it was almost too much, "But Booth..."

He let out a soft chuckle and rested his forehead against hers, "What part of don't say anything did you not get, Bones?" This banter between them felt as natural as breathing and while it certainly had the potential to break the mood, somehow he knew that this time it wouldn't.

"Are you going to kiss me? Because if you are, I just..." Brennan felt a smile spreading across her face at the prospect of it all and she let out a nervous laugh as she once again locked eyes with Booth. Sometimes she just needed to think things through longer than the average person before she jumped in with both feet.

"You what?" Booth laughed and as if reading what was in her eyes, his expression softened and he smiled, "Yeah, I'm going to kiss you, Temperance." And he leaned a little closer trying to commit it all to memory in case this was just a dream.

Her eyes fluttered shut in anticipation and in the next instant Booth's lips pressed softly against hers, tentatively at first, and then as she found herself responding in kind, the kiss deepened. As first kisses went, this was much different than any kiss that Brennan could remember; it wasn't a prelude to simply satisfying some biological urges, the kiss in and of itself held such meaning because of who she was sharing it with and as they pulled away from each other a few moments later she couldn't help but smile, "That was pretty incredible."

Booth laughed and pulled her close to him, "I'd have to say that I completely agree." The thought occurred to him that he might just kiss her again when he was started by the sound of a loud explosion, "What was that?" He reached for the gun that wasn't there as he reoriented himself to their surroundings.

Brennan couldn't help but laugh at him as she pointed to the sky and slipped her arm around his waist, "Fireworks, Booth." Her smile was a bit smug as she realized that kissing her had unsettled him; the big strong handsome FBI Special Agent had been undone by simply kissing her.

"Right...yeah...Independence Day...fireworks." Booth's grin was huge as he leaned in and kissed her again; somehow the fireworks he was feeling inside made the ones exploding above them in the sky pale by comparison.

_**The End**_

**Author's Note:** I had so much fun writing Booth and Bones together that I might just have to do it again.


End file.
